India Records 2,293 Fresh Covid-19 Cases In 24 Hrs, Biggest Single-Day Spike; 122 CRPF Jawans Test Positive

Maharashtra remains to be the worst-affected state with a total of 11,506 Covid-19 positive cases so far. The state registered 26 new deaths in the past 24 hours.

Huge crowd is seen outside Ghazipur vegetable market, during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in East Delhi, Saturday. (image: PTI)

New Delhi: With the Central government extending nationwide lockdown till May 17 and issuing fresh guidelines to regulate different activities during the period, the situation seems to have turned grim as the country reported 2,293 new cases and the death toll has increased by 71 in the last 24 hours. This is by far the highest number of cases reported in one day, according to the Ministry of Health and Family. The total number of cases in India has crossed the 37,336-mark with 1,218 deaths reported so far. Around 9,950 people have recovered until now. Of the total cases reported so far, 111 include foreign nationals. All metro cities which are economically crucial including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad, all marked red zones, will remain under strict lockdown. In recent cases 68 new cases of jawans have shown them affected by Covid-19 positive. All jawans are attached to a battalion having camp in East Delhi. Total positive cases in this battalion have reached 122 and the overall figure of the cases in CRPF is 127, including 1 recovered and 1 death, according to the figures from CRPF reported in ANI. While the death toll in Bihar rose to three with one more fatality on Friday while 41 more people tested positive for the disease, taking the total number of cases to 466, officials said. Almost 41 fresh cases were reported in a day in Katihar, Buxar, Rohtas, Madhubani, Kaimur, and Bhojpur. Maharashtra remains to be the worst-affected state with a total of 11,506 Covid-19 positive cases so far. The state registered 26 new deaths in the past 24 hours. The state has seen 1,879 people recuperating from the disease and 485 deaths so far. Gujarat took over as the second-highest number of cases at 4,721 after Delhi which has reported 3,738 cases. Gujarat has registered a total of 236 deaths and 735 have recuperated from the disease. The number of cases has risen to 795 in West Bengal, 639 in Jammu and Kashmir, 589 in Karnataka, 497 in Kerala, 480 in Punjab and 471 in Bihar. Madhya Pradesh has a total of 2,719 cases, followed by Rajasthan's which has seen a rise to touch 2,666. Uttar Pradesh has reported around 2,328 confirmed cases while Tamil Nadu's count has touched 2,526. The total number of Covid-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh has reached 1,463. Uttarakhand has seen 58 cases, Assam and Chhattisgarh have 43 cases each while Himachal Pradesh has registered 40 positive cases. Andaman and Nicobar Islands has 33 Covid-19 cases while Ladakh has reported 22 infections. Meghalaya has reported 12 cases, Puducherry has eight cases while Goa has seven Covid-19 cases. Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each. "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the health ministry said on the website, adding, "179 cases are being assigned to states for contact tracing." States-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added. (With inputs from PTI)